How evolution creates complexity: from viruses to brains with Christoph Adami

Video Description

Science & Cocktails is excited to announce a new episode with Christoph Adami, Professor for Microbiology, Genetics and Immunology, as well as Physics and Astronomy, at Michigan State University, and author of "The Evolution of Biological Information". Christoph will delve into the theory behind evolution and how everything can be viewed as information. Is Darwinian evolution something that happens only on Earth? Can we measure how much information is stored in our genes? How does cancer hide information from us? Darwinian evolution has given rise to all life on Earth. Is this process unique to Earth, or would evolution work just as well on other worlds where the conditions are right? In this talk, Christoph Adami will view evolution through the lens of information theory, and argue that evolution is a universal process because it acts on information, however it may be encoded. After a look back to understand why it took so long understand the fundamental principles of evolution, he will discuss early and recent experiments testing evolution, how information theory can shed light on the origin of life (here and elsewhere in the universe), and how information might hold the key to understanding complex diseases such as cancer. Dr. Adami is Professor for Microbiology, Genetics and Immunology, as well as Physics and Astronomy, at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. As a computational biologist, Dr. Adami’s main focus is Darwinian evolution, which he studies theoretically, experimentally, and computationally, at different levels of organization (from simple molecules to brains). He has pioneered the application of methods from information theory to the study of evolution, and designed the “Avida” system that launched the use of digital life (mutating and adapting computer viruses living in a controlled computer environment) as a tool for investigating basic questions in evolutionary biology. Dr. Adami earned a BS in physics and mathematics and a Diplom in theoretical physics from the University of Bonn (Germany) and MA and PhD degrees in theoretical physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He wrote the textbooks “Introduction to Artificial Life” (Springer, 1998), "The Evolution of Biological Information (Princeton University Presws, 2024), and is the recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal. He was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2017. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Artificial Life (ISAL) in 2019. For more science visit: • Website: https://www.scienceandcocktails.org • LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/science-&-cocktails/ • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scienceandcocktailscph/ • Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/ScienceCocktails • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scienceandcocktailsglobal/